Dystonia is a rare disease leading to a severe handicap. It can be of primary or secondary origin. It is characterized by sustained muscle contractions, frequently causing twisting and repetitive movements or abnormal postures. These disorders are believed to be caused by some dysfunction of the basal ganglia (BG) circuitry, but the mechanisms are largely unknown.

A better understanding of the disorder requires significant improvements of its phenomenological description in relation to aetiology. We want to identify specific motor signatures of different forms of dystonia. To that aim, we will ask patients to perform movements of various complexities, while recording chronometric, kinematics and EMG data. The characteristics of the patients' movements will be compared to those of matched control subjects. We will examine abnormal co-activation in distal and proximal muscles to evaluate the characteristics of the loss of selectivity of the motor command in mobile vs. fixed dystonia. Consistency of the motor output patterns will be compared in three groups of patients. We will also study possible cognitive and limbic components of the disease, examining the influence of cognitive and emotional loads on movement production. Eventually we want to refine the criteria used to classify different forms of the disease, thus enabling clinicians to better predict the likely outcome of particular therapeutic procedures.

15 Parkinsonian patients presenting of the dystonia of ONE or OFF at the time of the phases of driving fluctuations. These patients must present a dystonia of the upper limb, mainly localised than the level of the segment brachial or in distality.

Other: EMG and Kinematics recording

The experimental protocol envisages the recording of the movement and the bilateral recording of activity EMG during three types of tasks:

discrete driving tasks: movements of inflection and extension of the wrist car-generated, or produced in answer to an imperative stimulus try driving repetitive: sequence of inflection-extension of the wrist unilateral, bilateral in phase and bilateral in opposition of phase.

try driving complexes: movement of inflection and extension of the wrist with concurrent realization of a driving task controlatérale different, or of a cognitive task.

For the Parkinsonian patients, these various tests will be carried out twice: without antiparkinsonian treatment ("off") and under treatment ("one").

patients carrying a primary education dystonia affecting

15 patients carrying a primary education dystonia affecting at least one of the two upper limbs, without excessive involuntary movements

Other: EMG and Kinematics recording

The experimental protocol envisages the recording of the movement and the bilateral recording of activity EMG during three types of tasks:

discrete driving tasks: movements of inflection and extension of the wrist car-generated, or produced in answer to an imperative stimulus try driving repetitive: sequence of inflection-extension of the wrist unilateral, bilateral in phase and bilateral in opposition of phase.

try driving complexes: movement of inflection and extension of the wrist with concurrent realization of a driving task controlatérale different, or of a cognitive task.

For the Parkinsonian patients, these various tests will be carried out twice: without antiparkinsonian treatment ("off") and under treatment ("one").

patients carrying a secondary dystonia

15 patients carrying a secondary dystonia (consecutive with a perinatal suffering) affecting at least one of the two upper limbs, without excessive involuntary movements

Other: EMG and Kinematics recording

The experimental protocol envisages the recording of the movement and the bilateral recording of activity EMG during three types of tasks:

discrete driving tasks: movements of inflection and extension of the wrist car-generated, or produced in answer to an imperative stimulus try driving repetitive: sequence of inflection-extension of the wrist unilateral, bilateral in phase and bilateral in opposition of phase.

try driving complexes: movement of inflection and extension of the wrist with concurrent realization of a driving task controlatérale different, or of a cognitive task.

For the Parkinsonian patients, these various tests will be carried out twice: without antiparkinsonian treatment ("off") and under treatment ("one").

Parkinsonian patients: idiopathic PD, aged 18 to 75 years, with medical insurance, presenting motor fluctuations with ON and OFF involuntary movements, able to sign informed consent, able to stay in a sitting position and perform the experimental tasks.

Dystonia patients: aged 18 to 75 years, with medical insurance, idiopathic or secondary dystonia affecting at least one of the upper limbs, able to sign informed consent, able to stay in a sitting position and perform the experimental tasks.

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Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00361465